Mystery in Swing (1940) Online

This all-black "race" movie intended for black audiences is worth seeing because of the wonderful jazz music and songs written and mostly performed by The Four Tones and Ceepee Johnson, and played by Johnson's orchestra throughout the film. The setting is mostly in a nightclub, so it is not out of place. The songs dominate the second half of the film, with the murder mystery, while it is fun to watch unfold, taking a back seat. Johnson's performance of his "Beat My Blues Away" is spectacular - a performance not to be missed. If you like jazz, this movie is for you.

John Lester Johnson's character is billed on screen as "Himself," because he was a well-known ex-fighter who once broke some ribs of Jack Dempsey (see his mini-biography in this data base). His name is never mentioned, but he is called "Champ" and plays the nightclub owner.

The plot follows a routine B-picture formula. Someone with a lot of enemies is murdered. Who did it? Along the way, we get vignettes of each of the characters. There's also lots of music. The music -- swing (as one could guess) and jazz is not to my taste particularly but it's sensationally well performed.

What sets this apart from the rest is that it's a race picture. The performers are black and it was made for all-black audiences. I love watching these movies when they turn up. Some are superb, like Edgar Ulmer's "Moon Over Harlem." Some are quite good. Many are disappointing --or maybe were made so cheaply they haven't survived well today.

This movie is has several beautiful actresses, whom I don't recognize right off. The actors are skilled also. And it's short, professional, and snappy. Catch it if you have the chance!

This black cast film was enjoyable, a wonderful all-star Black cast displaying excellent acting and entertainment. Monte Hawley was considered the greatest actor of his race and he proved it. Monte Hawley was in the most used actor on stage and screen. Monte starred in many hit black cast films. Monte Hawley was wonderful in this movie, this is the best. Josephine Edwards stole the movie with her beauty, acting, singing, dancing talent- wonder why she didn't go further. Would of loved to see her in more movies. CeePee Johnson and his Orchestra had a great sound and CeePee was a amazing bandleader and singer. I enjoyed it and I'm sure you will too. Great singing by The Four Toppers- I wonder if the Four Tops knew it was a good of the same name before them. But, most of the black cast films are pleasant but its the entertainment that carries and steals the movie but in this case the acting is good and entertainment. The whole all-star cast if wonderful and holds their own. This movie is one of the better of the black cast films.

Pretty crazy whodunit featuring an all black cast trying to figure out who murdered the philandering trumpet player who was just about to go to Hollywood to Make It Big. Was it his wife? His Girlfriend? His Would-Be-Girlfriend? Her Father? His Butler? The newspaper guy? Who knows? And who cares? The result of this is just a little underwhelming, and the actors here don't really get me in a mood to care one way or another finding out. Why snake venom as a weapon? Who knows? Who cares? The music in this is alright, but there's little of it, and most of it is pretty "let's get this over with" This isn't worthy of your time. There are better all-black casted movies out there.

A fairly routine "cozy" murder mystery in which a hated person is killed in an enclosed environment (in this case a jazz nightclub), witnesses are threatened, and all the suspects are rounded up in the final reel by the bumbling police for a revelatory showdown outlined by a non-professional detective (in this case a newspaper reporter). The plot is handled well enough -- it's just an over-used device.

What sets this movie apart from other films of its ilk -- both white-cast and black-cast -- are the interesting and well-played musical interludes and the comedic turn by F. E. Miller as Sgt. Slim. Miller is better known as the vaudeville (and film) partner of Mantan Moreland, but both had separate film outings as well. Both are always worth watching, alone or as a pair. Also notable here is Buck Woods, as a valet who has some memorable scenes ranging from the dramatic to the comedic.

Mystery in Swing (1940)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Entertaining murder-mystery about a popular band leader who has plenty of enemies out there. One day he is killed and the main suspect is the father of a woman he was trying to date. Before long various other red herrings show up as it seems no one liked the man.

MYSTERY IN SWING is a pretty entertaining race picture that manages to put itself right up there with the other "B" mysteries that were being pumped out by Hollywood at the time. Quite often these race movies didn't look very good technically because of the low-budgets but that's not the case here. In all honesty this here could easily pass off as a Hollywood "B" film.

There are quite a few good things about this movie including the mystery itself. Sure, we've seen this type of thing countless times before as there's a bad man who many people hated and we learn of the reasons why as we slowly click down to the ending where we learn the truth. I actually thought the mystery was well-done here and the revealing killer was nice. The film even gets into some horror trappings at the end, which is another added bonus.

As with many other race movies from this era, this one here features some nice jazz music, which adds to the entertainment. I also thought the performances were above average for this type of film. All in all, MYSTERY IN SWING runs a fast-paced 64-minute and is a lot of fun.

Musician and heel Prince Ellis has returned to town and taken up with sweet Linda. Linda's father doesn't like the fact that his daughter is seeing his daughter and tries to put a stop to it. When Ellis ends up dead, Linda's father becomes the main suspect, but it isn't long before suspects and people with an ax to grind are coming out of the woodwork. Wading in to the mystery is a reporter and a secretary from his paper and they are determined to get to the bottom of the murder. Okay murder mystery is the sort thing that with a bigger budget and more experienced hands would have been a cracking little murder tale. Here it's a not quite as good because the cast is a bit uneven and the direction seems to be off by a beat or two. It doesn't ruin the film but it made me slightly annoyed because I had the feeling that this could have been a great little film if it had a little bit more…. Short comings aside this is worth a look if you like the mysteries of the 40's.